Ulster retained both the men's and women's U-21 interprovincial titles at Grange Road, getting the better of Leinster in both tournaments’ key matches.
On the men's side, wins for both Ulster (3-0) and Leinster (3-2) over Munster made the final game of the three-game blitz a straight showdown for the title with the northern province having the slight edge on goal difference.
They soon made it a very clear advantage when Neil Hamilton netted from the flick spot but Jacob Webber netted his second of the tournament from a corner to level matters in the 12th minute.
A cagey battle ensued with Leinster holding the ball for long periods but largely in their own half while Ulster looked the more threatening outfit.
As it was, the blues took the lead early in the second half when Andrew Ward's razor-sharp reaction bunted home after Tim Hill's baseline run saw the ball fly up into the Monkstown man's path.
But Ulster slowly began to turn the screw with Jason Lynch's tussle with David Robinson one of the game's highlights. David Ames became more influential too at right midfield as Timmy Smyth deflected in for 2-2 with a quarter hour left.
And the title was confirmed when Hamilton fired in a drag-flick in the closing minutes to give Leinster too much to do to comeback.
On the women's side, the key game occurred on Saturday when Ulster beat Leinster 1-0. The two sides were the stand-out performers all weekend but the northerners showed a greater all round togetherness to their play to retain the title.
Hannah McMillan's 11th minute strike - one of five she scored over the two days - was the difference in that game and Ulster duly beat the rest of the competition with a degree of comfort: Munster (3-0), South East (6-0) and Connacht (4-0).
Leinster ended the weekend in second with three wins to their name. They opened up with a 4-0 win over Connacht, Kate McKenna, Nicci Daly, Nikki Evans and Anna O'Flanagan on target.
Further wins on Sunday were added against South East (3-0) and Munster (1-0) but that single goal against 
Ulster would prove critical.
There was interprovincial success, though, for Leinster in the men's junior competition as they completed the competition with three wins from three.
Shane Dooley's single goal was enough to beat Connacht in the tournament's opening game at Lisnagarvey. Munster ended the first day at the head of the table, though, as they proceeded to win the day's next two games - 3-2 against Ulster courtesy of a double by Fingal man Chris Neville and 4-1 against Connacht with Railway's Mark Egner also bagging a brace.
But the blues took over as the major force on Sunday afternoon when they built up an early 2-0 lead over the southerners, thanks to Phil Ryan and Naas man Kieran Davenport's two goals in three minutes. Neville pulled one back but Clontarf's Rob Kelly stretched the lead to 3-1.
It meant a win over Ulster would confirm the title and they duly obliged, Davenport and Navan's Eamon Lynskey wrapping up a 2-0 win.
* For the final tables in the U-21 men's, ESB U-21 women's, Junior men's and junior women's, click on the links attached.
Meanwhile, there was plenty of photos taken over the weekend. For Adrian Boehm's pictures from the U-21 men, click here, and from the U-21 women, click here. For Emer and John Keogh's pictures of the women's tournament, click here while Stephen Findlater's pictures of the U-21 men's match between Leinster and Ulster are here. Stephen West's photos of the tournament are here.
28 comments:
Congratulations to the Junior Interpros, they didn't let the fixture congestion and small squad effect them. Even with a large representationfrom lower league teams they pulled together and played as a unit. Fair play to coach Shane Dooley and skipper Rob Kelly, Stormer lads!
i watched the mens leinster v munster match sunday morning and i thought munster were very unlucky not to come out with a win or at least a draw, a very young side who played some great hockey.
Ladies Joy turns to Disapointment for Winners Ulster U21 , May i say this needs to Change and sooner the Better . All the teams have put in Hours of work , Time and Exspense to try and win the Compo and NOT TO EVEN GET A WINNERS MEDAL ( Wrong so so Wrong !!! ) Why may i ask can a Medal not be awarded
Why was there no ball boys and ball girls!!!It slowed down the game.Bad form from the Leinster Branch
Have to agree with 2.03. Ulster and Munster have to continually listen to how wonderful Leinster are. Perhaps they might go to Cork or Belfast to see how tournaments are run properly. Incidentally, Ulster won senior,u21 and u18 mens
interpros this year. While Leinster
club mans teams may have the edge, they have to do so with many non Leinster players!!!
any pictures from de junior interpros?
How was Chris Neville allowed to play for Munster? I thought only Div 2 players were eligible to play?
the reason leinster do poorly in interpros is down to poor selection of squads etc. unless you have a reputation, its difficult to get in!
just a thought but maybe leinster did not win the competitions as their domestic league is bigger, making it harder to find as much time to get training time in.
On the boy's side, they looked a bit individual which happens when guys don't play week in week out while Ulster were a more fluid team.
April 20, 2009 10:49 PM, that is absolute bull! You get a reputation from being good! Who didnt make the team, bar yourself, that should have?
When Bann win the IHL and Cookstown the ISC people will see ulster are on top in club hockey also. I was watchin the under 21 pros and the thing that stood out for me the most was not the winning ulster side but the fair play of the leinster side.
I will give 20 - 1 odds on Cookstown winning the ISC and Bann winning the IHL. If there are any takers I will post my details later!!!
think i'd put a fiver on that bet. Stephen Cuddy - Cookstown
A whole fiver...reeks of over-confidence!!!!
is there any web sites or shops that will take bets on the hockey in ireland. pembroke have to muck for cookstown. glens for ihl. anyone wanna give me odds on that?
ill give you odds.. 1,3,5,7,9
As far as i know Munster had 1 session before the re-arranged inter-pro and even then all the players could not turn up. Due to work, exams etc.
I am not sure about Ulster, maybe they had more sessions than anyone. But they won, the Munster team played to their plan and played well just lost concentration near the end and ended up loosing. The best part is 15 players of the team are back next year and they will all have improved and become physically stronger.
Well done boys all are proud of your efforts.
the tournament was setup for either ulster or leinster to win!fact... ulster played munster straight after a match leinster got the big gap so that ulster and leinster could play out the "final"...
Congratulations to the ULster Womens's U21 Inter Pro team on their success. The girls and their management team deserve much more credit than has been accorded to them. They all gave freely of their time to attend many training sessions, in order to achieve the highest of standards, and following their win, all the mention they get is one minor line on the website-- no photo, no reports of the matches, no appreciation, --so little acknowledgement for the huge effort they all made. Indeed the Irish Hockey website, so far, has only mentioned the achievements of Leinster and Munster, with no mention of the other teams or a record of the final winner. Also, it must be pointed out that parents have made a large contribution in terms of financial support, particularly those who had arranged flights and accommodation for the originally cancelled tournament. Moreover, the girls had to "pay to play" for the honour of representing their province, in some cases twice, if they also played for the Senior team. Not only that, the admission fee, (for two parents), of 40 euros to watch the four matches at a very second rate venue, that had neither scoreboard or a public address system, was totally outrageous.We should have had the pre match announcement of the team names and then the goal scorers... but there was nothing. Finally, to cap it all, the presentation of a wee small cup (No Medals) took place in a poky corner while another match was in progress on the main pitch. A very anti- climaxial end to superb hockey from our team. This is sad.... surely the standards for hockey must be raised-- don't our girls, their management teams and supporters, deserve much more?
Hold your head in shame Leinster Branch!!
My apologies to April 22, 2009 12:19 AM for the lack of coverage on the site of the women's interprovincials.
May I direct you to http://www.flickr.com/photos/stephenfindlater/sets/72157616949011237/ and to http://www.flickr.com/photos/irishhockeyphotographers/sets/72157616963340013/
for pictures of the women's tournament.
Unfortunately, I had other responsibilities over the weekend and, as I tend to focus on the Leinster sides, I did not afford a lot of space to Ulster's win.
I agree with April 22, 12:41am...the tournament was not run well at all... there were no specific changing rooms for each team and there was no scoreboard or public announcements...
also...Connacht were never allowed play on the Front Pitch. All of their matches were on the back pitch (which is not a good pitch at all)... don't think that was fair
Have to reiterate some of the comments regarding the lack of status given to this tournament this year. Can anyone else confirm that there were 2 of the GB management squad there watching the tournament?
i don't like to see people from Ulster coming on this blog and leaving negative comments regarding coverage. this is the Leinster blog! why don't you channel your energies into improving the Ulster blog by contributing an article on the 21 interpros?
we need to build up our own blog rather than snipe at the lack of coverage, if you read the 500,000 post article you will see that people contribute to help here.
Yes. I can confirm that as a member
of the GB management squad, I was there. I was however very disappointed with the quality of Grossen Boobens(GB)
David if you are referring to my long blog about the Tournament its has nothing to do with the Blog Site at all !! Read it again im sure all the Teams would agree with my comments . This blog site is an excellant site and i wish we had one up north for the ladies section .
David....April 22nd, 8:54am is from Leinster. you didn't have to be from Ulster to notice how poorly the tournament was run...
nope, i'm an Ulster man.
i'm not making any reference to the u21 tournament nor your post specifically.
i've been talking to those involved and they said that it wasn't the best run interpros' they've been at.
the point i'm making is over the lack of coverage you've pointed out.
agreed the coverage in the north is poor. the Ulster blog is in it's infancy and i am sure any articles they receive would be welcome.
maybe those at the interpros could knock up a little match report and get it in? generate some more traffic for the blog and increase exposure? maybe we can have a blog as comprehensive as this and southern fried?
the tournament wasnt that bad. i went up last year to the north to watch a tournament and to be honest i didnt notice a difference bettween them so maybe everyone should stop complaing!
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